A mother dies of cancer linked to asbestos after years of washing her husband's clothes

A loving mother died of cancer related to asbestos after washing her husband's work clothes for decades.

Maureen Malpbad would have suffered the devastating effects of asbestos due to secondary contact with the toxic dust fibers contained in his linen.

Her husband, Tom, now 70, was working on pipes as a rigger in a coal-fired power plant.

He has also worked in a power plant for years.

But Maureen felt bad during a family vacation in Cyprus and, a year later, died of peritoneal mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that developed in the abdominal lining.

Tom said today from his home in Coalbrookdale near Telford, Shropshire: "I can not help but feel angry, but incredibly guilty of causing it.

"At the time, I did not know what I was bringing home or the destructive impact it would have on our lives.

"At first we were not told about the risks, I did not know it was a death sentence at the time.

"I myself did a lot of checks at the hospital and they have not found anything yet, but it seems so unfair, it was beyond our control."

Maureen, a mother, who washed Tom's clothes every week, died in 2017 after 48 years of marriage.

But since the mourning and research on the subject, Tom has now decided to instruct Slater and Gordon's asbestos lawyers to investigate Maureen's cancer cause.

Emma Newman, an industrial disease lawyer, said, "Peritoneal mesothelioma is an aggressive and rare form of incurable cancer.

"Although Maureen never works herself with asbestos, we believe that she has developed this horrible disease through a secondary contamination through her husband's work clothes. "

Paying tribute to Maureen, who leaves behind four grandchildren, Tom said, "It's heartbreaking to think about all these years, she was at risk and we had no idea.

"Maureen was not the type to complain about and was very stoic.We had no idea what it was and we were completely shocked when we realized that it was related to asbestos.

"She was a very happy woman and devoted to her family, we met as a teenager at a club in Wolverhampton, she caught my attention and from then on we became inseparable.

"She had to accept that I work but she accepted everything.

"She was a dedicated and dedicated woman and mother who cared about taking care of us all, we all suffered a lot and we miss her terribly."